Giants Must Handle New Wave Of College Style Offenses Embedding The NFC East

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Giants Must Handle New Wave Of College Style Offenses Embedding The NFC East

Excerpt: "One of the Giants’ division opponents has a 22-year-old quarterback who led his team to the playoffs and was voted to the Pro Bowl while running a read-option scheme. Another of their NFC foes just hired a coach who made college football legend with his fast-paced spread offensive attack.
This offseason, they face a question now prevalent around the NFL: How, and how much, do they adjust to the wave of new offenses in the league?
Their answers could affect coaching, strategy, personnel — and even staffing. The Giants now have one opening on their defensive staff, with defensive assistant Al Holcomb departing for the Panthers, and may look for a replacement from the Division 1 ranks who has experience defending against the read-option, according to a person familiar with their thinking.
The new trend of offenses passed up from the college ranks happens to be concentrated in the NFC, starting with the conference’s representative in this year’s Super Bowl. San Francisco’s Colin Kaepernick, Carolina’s Cam Newton and Seattle’s Russell Wilson are among the class of dual-threat quarterbacks, and as referenced above, Washington’s Robert Griffin III and new Philadelphia coach Chip Kelly are changing the NFC East in particular.
So the Giants may face college-style offenses upwards of four times in a 16-game season — depending on Griffin’s health and availability next season, and the system Kelly installs with the Eagles. That’s no small percentage.
"They can definitely be the ultimate weapon, if you can keep ’em healthy," Giants general manager Jerry Reese said of the new wave of quarterbacks."

Does that mean the Giants need to change their weapons on defense, or their approach? The Giants have won two Super Bowl titles in the past five years with a defense based around a relentless pass rush, but their stable of defensive linemen expressed frustration this season at quarterbacks like Griffin weakening their strong suit.

Giants director of college scouting Marc Ross said the new offensive trends in the NFL won’t change the Giants’ mindset for the draft, or the premium they place on pass rushers. He also tempered the notion that teams necessarily need smaller and faster players now, noting that teams such as Washington, Seattle and San Francisco field powerful run games outside their read-option schemes.

"Stick with what we do. We don’t worry about what other teams do, we draft the best players for us," Ross said last week, during a practice for the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala. "And we think from that, we’ll be able to defend those kind of new-wave offenses. Last year, even the team we have now, we think we have the personnel to beat those guys, and we’re just trying to just get better at all positions to further do that. We’re not going to drastically change anything we do, based off of those new offenses." Read more...

“Never argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.” MB Rule # 1

This topic is overrated. We don't know if RG3 will be the same again or if Kelly can translate that offense into the NFL. And even with initial success teams adjust to these new schemes. Why is no one running the Wildcat anymore? At the end of the day this game is about winning in the trenches and having good quarterbacks who can throw the ball all over the field in big spots. That is all.

I wish it were as simple as dismissing the pistol as a gimmick like the wildcat but its not. With an above average athletic qb if you don't have the speed AND discipline on D, you're toast. That's what getting figured out.

I'm glad the Giants are not going to panic and make changes in their over-all defensive scheme, (or at least that's what it seems from this article). We have done well against the "new style" teams this year. These QBs have flashes, but most have not been able to sustain that type of offense. You see Kaepernick in the Super Bowl this year. Remember, he only played that style QB about 1/2 the season as the main guy. That saved him from taking a beating over a whole season. Griffin was injured 2 times this past season. His second of which is fairly serious. What really had the Giants on their heels against the 'Skins", was the effective power of Morris. As far as the rest of the teams running that type offense, only Seattle was able to sustain the year long quality play. We have to look back on who these teams played to determine just how good they really are. There just aren't as many top quality read-option QBs to worry about in the NFL, to force us into a defensive makeover.

If we can properly fix the holes we have on the at LB, and get JPP some help at the DE spot, I think we still have a solid enough team to stay with any of the new offenses popping up. Depending on injuries and the improvement of our DTs, we could be good at that spot.

What we need most at this point is a solid upgrade on the O-Line. We have serious talent in our skill positions. With decent support from a quality O-Line, this team could score with any of those style offenses.

Stay the course. Get the talented athletes we are used to getting and we will handle the read-option. Those QBs will breakdown, or more likely not have the talent to sustain production over the long haul.